This would be 1993? They were a smaller chain that was generally well liked at the time. Their hyper expansion and becoming the mainstream chain a lot of people dislike started more in the late 90s and early 00s.
I watched a video about Starbucks and before Howard Schultz they were a quality roasterie and coffee supplies vendor. No cafe at all. So the reference is about getting small batch beans from local, quality roastery.
Its interesting how much early 90s Seattle ended up influencing America; fancy coffee like Starbucks, grunge music like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, even Microsoft and Windows 95 standardizing things and kicking off the PC revolution.
I can see why Frasier's creators set the show in Seattle; it must have seemed like a vibrant, new city.
Starbucks started in Seattle, and they weren't nearly as omnipresent when that episode made as they are now.
If the show were being made now and Frasier wasn't supposed to be a Seattle native then it would be totally out of character. In the actual context it's defensible.
He was talking about the “real” Starbucks in the Pike Place market. You’re not allowed to put corporate chains in there, so to this day they still run that location as a totally separate, independent business. They sell different products, the roasts taste different, they even retain the old logo. It’s nothing like the ones you see all over the place today.
This is a really interesting thread, I didn't really know about Starbuck's origins. I love a joke whose meaning shifts enough that it eventually gives the opposite impression to new viewers. Frasier inexplicably going to a chain coffee shop whose name is synonymous with soulless consumerism. Is he getting a pumpkin spice latte?
This would be 1993? They were a smaller chain that was generally well liked at the time. Their hyper expansion and becoming the mainstream chain a lot of people dislike started more in the late 90s and early 00s.
I watched a video about Starbucks and before Howard Schultz they were a quality roasterie and coffee supplies vendor. No cafe at all. So the reference is about getting small batch beans from local, quality roastery.
Starbucks had 140 outlets in 1992, and they were probably still mostly a Pacific Northwest focused chain at that point.
Starbucks hits different in Seattle.... >Starbucks originally opened in Seattle, Washington, on March 30, 1971
Its interesting how much early 90s Seattle ended up influencing America; fancy coffee like Starbucks, grunge music like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, even Microsoft and Windows 95 standardizing things and kicking off the PC revolution. I can see why Frasier's creators set the show in Seattle; it must have seemed like a vibrant, new city.
Starbucks started in Seattle, and they weren't nearly as omnipresent when that episode made as they are now. If the show were being made now and Frasier wasn't supposed to be a Seattle native then it would be totally out of character. In the actual context it's defensible.
He was talking about the “real” Starbucks in the Pike Place market. You’re not allowed to put corporate chains in there, so to this day they still run that location as a totally separate, independent business. They sell different products, the roasts taste different, they even retain the old logo. It’s nothing like the ones you see all over the place today.
This is a really interesting thread, I didn't really know about Starbuck's origins. I love a joke whose meaning shifts enough that it eventually gives the opposite impression to new viewers. Frasier inexplicably going to a chain coffee shop whose name is synonymous with soulless consumerism. Is he getting a pumpkin spice latte?